As known in the art, “gray” water refers to water containing low levels of contaminants and which is typically not potable, but can be recycled and used in particular applications, such as irrigation water, toilet water, as well as some industrial applications. Gray water typically originates from non-toxic household uses, such as from showers, bathtubs, and from non-chemical/toxic sink drainage. Gray water can also originate from the environment itself, for example, rain run-off from a gutter assembly of a home. “Black” water is distinguished from gray water in that black water contains a high amount of particulates and/or contaminants which requires heavy water treatment. Black water is also defined by its source, such as water originating from a toilet is defined as black water even if it is perfectly clean. Fresh, “white” or “potable” water is water which is most commonly used for drinking and cooking.
While fresh water is absolutely essential for life, it has become a diminishing resource around the world. As populations in arid areas continue to expand, drought conditions affect wide spread areas. Additionally, pollution from factories and plants may contaminate water reserves making fresh water more difficult to obtain. Access to fresh water is becoming increasingly expensive in view of at least these factors. In certain areas around the globe, fresh water has been completely exhausted or contaminated, and this trend is expected to become more pervasive in larger, industrial areas as well as areas with sub-standard plumbing systems.
Water reclamation has been a central point in proposed approaches to conserve fresh water resources. However, water collection valves that are used in these approaches are overly complex and expensive as excessive quantities of components are used which reduces reliability and makes the collection valves cost prohibitive. Furthermore, existing water collection valves use non-approved components which then require that the valves undergo an extensive qualification process by industrial governing bodies.
Accordingly, a new gray water collection valve is needed to address the foregoing difficulties. Particularly, a new gray water collection valve that uses pre-approved, off-the-shelf parts to reduce costs and eliminate the need for approval by industrial governing bodies is needed.